Aug 13, 2014 12:15 PM EDT By Russell Westerholm, UniversityHerald Reporter

Fantasy football is a well-known office distraction for whoever takes part and a new report has finally quantified exactly what it costs U.S. employers.

According to the Chicago Tribune, Challenger, Gray and Christmas (CG&C), a global outplacement firm in Chicago, estimated U.S. employers lose about $13.4 billion in productivity at the hands of fantasy football. But it probably matters little, because workers would just look for any kind of distraction.

John A. Challenger, the firm's CEO, called fantasy football a "massively popular phenomenon that cannot be ignored." Workers who set their lineups, research, draft players or check injury updates are using Internet bandwidth and not focusing on whatever task is supposed to be at hand.

"We are not trying to demonize fantasy football," Challenger said in a statement. "It is important to understand that there are more distractions than ever in today's workplace. If it's not fantasy football, it's the latest Hollywood gossip, shopping on Amazon, or checking Facebook."

The firm estimated two years ago that fantasy football cost U.S. employers $6.5 billion of productivity, the Denver Post reported at the time. Not to worry, the latest figure CG&C came up with represents less than one percent of the approximate $1.5 trillion paid in wages to America's working class.

For their results, the firm took average hourly pay of non-farm workers on a private payroll. Then they estimated that 18.3 million workers - 59 percent of the 31 million working-age Americans who play fantasy sports - spent two hours every workweek on their fantasy football team.

It would be a fruitless effort to try and eliminate one workplace distraction because it would make people mad and would not even help productivity.

"An across-the-board ban on all fantasy football or sports websites is likely to backfire and cause a drop in morale, loyalty and, ironically, productivity," Challenger said. "The end result could be far worse than any loss of productivity caused by an hour or two of team management each week."

See Now: Covert Team Inside Newsweek Revealed as Key Players in False Human Trafficking Lawsuit